From: clough@texas.net   
      
   Cineshock wrote:   
   > I'm wondering how many miles a day a cowboy on horseback could cover,   
   assuming   
   > the terrain isn't particularly rough. Fifty? Seventy-five? One hundred? I   
   have   
   > no idea!   
   >   
   > Along the same trial, so to speak, how many miles a day could a buggy cover?   
   Or   
   > a stage coach?   
   >   
   > Educated guesses would be welcome!   
   >   
   > -Steve   
   >   
      
   Wildly variable, depending on condition of horse, nature of the road or   
   ground, and motivation.   
      
   A good rider on a good horse could do 75 miles a day under good   
   conditions. I would emphasis "good rider", since the rider's skill has a   
   lot to do with what could be gotten out of a horse. But I think that   
   would be pushing the horse, and it wouldn't do to keep it up day after   
   day for very long. There are some extreme tales of riding speed and   
   endurance, but they often include leaving a trail of dead and ruined   
   horses. The end of a 75 mile, one day ride would leave the rider in   
   roughish shape, too.   
      
   The short-lived pony express could get up to and sometimes more than 250   
   miles or more in a near round-the-clock day, averaging seven miles per   
   hour and a single rider doing 75 miles and using three horses to do it.   
      
   On a trail drive, the rate would be something like ten miles per day,   
   the rate being set by the speed that would allow cattle to maintain or   
   even gain weight on the move.   
      
   Stagecoaches, by their nature having the teams changed frequently, could   
   credibly do 100+ miles a day over decent roads. Figure about 8 miles per   
   hour. Having driven over some remnants of an old stage "road" on a ranch   
   in central Texas in an SUV, the speed over the good sections would have   
   to have been considerably faster to average 8 mph, since many places   
   were difficult and slow going, even for a gasoline vehicle.   
      
      
      
   --   
                          Gerald Clough   
                         clough@texas.net   
   "Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)